Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas

Conceptual Blockbusting A Guide to Better Ideas James Adams s unique approach to generating ideas and solving problems has captivated inspired and guided thousands of people from all walks of life Now twenty five years after its original publica

Title: Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas

Author: James L. Adams

ISBN: 9780738205373

Page: 473

Format: Paperback

James Adams s unique approach to generating ideas and solving problems has captivated, inspired, and guided thousands of people from all walks of life Now, twenty five years after its original publication, Conceptual Blockbusting has never been relevant, powerful, or fresh Integrating insights from the worlds of psychology, engineering, management, art, and philosopJames Adams s unique approach to generating ideas and solving problems has captivated, inspired, and guided thousands of people from all walks of life Now, twenty five years after its original publication, Conceptual Blockbusting has never been relevant, powerful, or fresh Integrating insights from the worlds of psychology, engineering, management, art, and philosophy, Adams identifies the key blocks perceptual, emotional, cultural, environmental, intellectual, and expressive that prevent us from realizing the full potential of our fertile minds Employing unconventional exercises and other interactive elements, Adams shows individuals, teams, and organizations how to overcome these blocks, embrace alternative ways of thinking about complex problems, and celebrate the joy of creativity With new examples and contemporary references, Conceptual Blockbusting is guaranteed to introduce a new generation of readers to a world of new possibilities.

One thought on “Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas”

I read this book as part of my personal development goals at work. Much of the value of this book is working through the exercises throughout, so if you are really interested in the material, you should read it for yourself. My full summary, including a description of all the blocks Adams describes and how to avoid them can be found here.Adams motivation in writing this book is to introduce people to ways to improve their idea generating ability. Adams makes the claim that having good ideas does [...]

There is a lot of interesting content in this book, but I'm not sure it actually made me more creative. The writing is _slightly_ meandering and academic in style, a bit like a research survey paper, but the content within is genuinely valuable. Just the idea of thinking about *how* you come up with a solution (visual thinking, mathematical thinking, deduction, induction, etc), rather than what the solution turns out to be, is a pretty powerful exercise. The list of blocks that get in the way of [...]

I feel like more of these how-to creativity books should gain popularity. I feel there's generally a gap in our education that we need to fill.Pros:+ thought-provoking exercises+ lists of creativity inhibitors, usually blind spots, ranging from personal emotional issues to cultural stereotypes and taboos+ trying to bust the myth that creativity can't be taught. Showing how in some cases creativity may even be achieved by algorithmic methodsCons: - I would have liked the book to cite some more st [...]

This is one of those books you'll want to read once a year. It provides practical steps for expanding your mind, teaches you to think about thinking, and helps you identify "conceptual blocks". These blocks are limiting your ideas and keeping you from reaching higher levels of creativity. The subject of the book seems a bit elementary based on the title - "Conceptual Blockbusting", but there is a lot to be learned. Don't assume it is just another book about problem solving.Practical steps for ex [...]

More a summary than a review:As James L. Adams opens the preface for the first edition of Conceptual Blockbusting, in 1974, "Few people like problems". We try to avoid them as much as possible and we tend to get away with the first "good enough" solution we can find. Doing so, we may lose the value of potentially better, more elegant solutions that were not the first to come to our minds.James L. Adams argues that our ability to generate ideas is much like any other ability: it can be trained. W [...]

Some ideas here and there, personally I was bored at timesa lot of exercises many are group exercisesNotes:Chapter 1: IntroductionThe author’s goal is to make us aware of the creative process, blocks that inhibit it and tricks that we can use to overcome these blocks. Our reaction often to a problem is to get rid of it and quickly throw solutions at it, the author calls it “hit and run”. We do this instead of spending some time to actually understand the problem and solve it correctlyOutl [...]

I read this one for a class. It definitely has some interesting brain teasers and questions the way you formulate and solve problems. My main criticism would be that it's hard to see how it really fits into other literature I've read about the engineering problem solving process, management, etc. But perhaps that's the point.

The general ideas in this book were decent but it took a long time to get through. It's not really a book that did a good job holding my attention; I found myself putting it down and picking it back up over a years time.

Although I didn't do all (or even most) of the exercises, I still found the book fascinating and enlightening. The range of areas covered is impressive for a book of this size and the reader's guide at the end looks like a gold mine for further reading.

Interesting read! A thought to ponder on taken from a personal letter to a friend by Schiller. "The reason for your complaint(about not being creative) lies, it seems to me, in the constraint which your intellect imposes upon your imagination. Here, I will make an observation, and illustrate it by an allegory. Apparently, it is not good and indeed it hinders the creative work of the mind - if the intellect examines too closely the ideas already pouring in, as it were, at the gates. Regarded in i [...]

A light look at the creative process and common blocks that interfere with it. There are occasional exercises which would be interesting with a group of people, but are of limited value to the lone reader. One of several books I bought while a psych major at the University of Washington and planned to buy and read, in alphabetical order by author, all the books in the psychology section of my neighborhood bookstore. This was my second reading of it, about 25 years later.

I like the book. The main premise for the book is thinking is mostly automatic and happen subconsciously, bring that subconscious process to conscious realm, make the conceptual block that inhibit it clear and we will be come better problem solver and be more creative.

Best book i ever read on this theme.Very honest presentation of authors study of creative process with extremely valuable and practicals suggestion.Best part of the book is total absence of "get rich quick" stand.